Course overview

Increasingly, we gain a sense of the world and our place in it from the media – through the TV programmes we watch, the magazines we read and the web pages we view. On this course you will explore the media as a source of information, entertainment and identity. You will also examine how national media systems manage to survive in this age of global media companies.

BA (Hons) Media Studies at Portsmouth is unique in its scope and vitality. Our students are thinkers and doers, researchers and writers, critics and makers. We help them gain the skills and knowledge necessary to understand the nature and needs of contemporary media.

The course gives you access to media production in various forms including video production and media writing. Our ideal of critical practice is based on the notion that thinking should inform practice – thinking and doing should not be taken in isolation.

You will be taught by specialist staff with strong research interests across a range of media. You will study core units in media history and theory, film studies, popular culture, media policy and global media. We also have a range of optional units for you to choose from including new media, popular television, screenwriting, newspaper culture or television sitcoms. The choices will become broader as your studies develop.

Course content

You will study an exciting range of units throughout your studies. In your first year you will learn the basic theory underpinning study and practice of media. The programme will continue in Years two and three with core units that you must study and a wide selection of specialised units that you choose.

Year one

You will study the following units:

• Media Studies: Theories and Methods
• Contemporary Media Events
• Media Writing: An Introduction
• Audio Vision
• Study Skills for Media
• Research Skills for Media

Year two

You will study the following core units:

• Screen Media
• Print Media

 You will also study four options for the following:

• The Media and Propaganda
• Approaches to Popular Culture
• Media Writing: For the Screen and Press
• Production – Script and Shooting
• Media, Culture and National Identity
• Researching Genre
• Media Networks: Exploring Digital Cultures
• Social Issues in the Media
• Languages

Year three

In your final year you will choose five options from the following:

• Media Dissertation
• Video Production Project
• Media Writing Project
• Cultures of Consumption
• Film Stardom and Celebrity Culture
• Researching Animation
• Comedy, Culture and Form
• TV Talk Shows
• News, War and Peace
• Marketing Movies
• Representing Science in the Media
• Media Fan Cultures
• British Television Drama and Society

Teaching and assessment

Media students at Portsmouth experience considerable intellectual freedom and choice. Specialist options are built into the programme to enable a great degree of freedom and personal exploration. In addition, the dissertation in Year three (which is worth a third of the total mark during the final year) is based on a topic selected by you.

We think that media studies is a new and exciting discipline that should be approached in fresh and innovative ways. We also believe that the media thinker should always strive to bridge the gap between the classroom and the outside world. We encourage this by using all kinds of texts and evidences traditional academic sources are studied alongside current media artefacts (magazines, advertisements, television programmes, films and so on) and we aim to develop transferable skills by teaching you skills that will be useful to you in your chosen career such as writing, research (academic/media), project development and presentation skills.

Assessment takes many forms. You could be assessed via:

• an essay
• a video
• script
• pitch
• programme proposal
• online submission
• a verbal presentation

You might also write a report, create a review, write a feature or produce a research portfolio. Overall, the assessments have been developed to allow you to demonstrate a range of skills and talents. We also teach these skills in dedicated units.

Career prospects

Our BA (Hons) Media Studies degree will equip you with the key skills of researching, writing and critical thinking, alongside a good understanding of the contemporary media landscape. To develop a successful career in the media and cultural industries you will need to show a personal drive and commitment to your chosen career. We recommend that during the course of your degree you pursue relevant work experience at every opportunity, in order to build a successful network of contacts and a portfolio of marketable skills.

Because we offer a broad-based media education, the potential choice of career is equally broad. We feel that this is necessary given the rapidly changing nature of the media and cultural industries. Media Studies graduates go on to do a variety of jobs, including public relations, television production, television and film research, journalism, advertising and teaching.

Some of our students also go on to do postgraduate research or short skills-based courses in various aspects of media production.

Facilities and features

Entry requirements

View all the entry requirements for BA (Hons) Media Studies for the academic year 2013/14 (opens in new window).